Zuma stands firm on AIDS policy

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Zuma stands firm on AIDS policy

Sunday Times, South Africa - Sunday, February 28, 1999
Laurice Taitz

THE government has angered AIDS activists by refusing to change its stance on the provision of drugs to pregnant women despite recent findings that 15 out of 100 babies could be spared HIV infection - at a cost of less than R400 each.

The findings were made during United Nations-sponsored perinatal transmission trials conducted worldwide.

Vincent Hlongwane, spokesman for the Minister of Health, Dr Nkosazana Zuma, said: "The issue is not cost-effectiveness - it is that the government does not have the budget for this kind of treatment. We don't doubt these findings, but are not influenced by them."

The Department of Health announced it had underspent by R90-million and would use that money to introduce the haemophilus influenzae, or HIB, vaccine, which prevents meningitis in children.

Dr Glenda Gray, director of the Perinatal HIV Research Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, one of the sites conducting the UN trials, said: "We are disappointed - we cannot understand why Zuma is ignoring the data."

She said that although introducing the HIB vaccine was a positive step, the government's move "will save 51 out of every 100 000 children. Compare that to treatment with the AIDS drug AZT, which will save 15 000 out of every 100 000."
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